Prof. Leigh Landy Performance in Kuala Lumpur

As part of the Spectra concert series, Leigh Landy’s 8-channel composition, ‘E Pluribus Plures’, was performed on 11 November 2024 at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre, Malaysia. This work, which recomposes traditional music around the globe, is a celebration of cultural diversity and a warning about several non-commercial folk traditions that are under threat of extinction. He was the only non-Asian composer on the programme.

 

Prof. Leigh Landy appointed as Visiting Professor at the Ionian University, Corfu, Greece

 

As of December 2024, Prof. Leigh Landy has been appointed Visiting Professor at the ERHMEE research centre at the Ionian University in Corfu. ERHMEE has been a partner of the MTI Research Centre for ca. 15 years and this appointment is a celebration of our excellent relationship.

Professor Leigh Landy to offer his second keynote talk at the WOCMAT Conference-Festival in Taiwan

The 20th WOCMAT (Workshop on Computer Music and Audio Technology) Conference and Taiwan Computer Music Festival has invited Leigh Landy to offer a keynote address (as he did in Taiwan in 2016) and present a recent composition. Mainly attended by musicians and developers from East Asia, this event brings Chinese and Taiwanese specialists together with colleagues from around the globe. During the festival 20-21 December 2024, he will offer a talk entitled ‘Practising what I preach <–> Preaching what I practise’ focusing on how his artistic work and his scholarship both reflect his desire to bring new music to new audiences and participants. The talk focuses on his two books that appeared within the last twelve months as well as his two current series of compositions. His goal is to indicate to conference attendees how important this goal is. He will also be presenting a recent work from one of those two composition series, ‘Qing + Cha 磬 + 镲     Old / New 舊 / 新’ (2023) in concert a work whose sonic material consists solely of sounds from qing (bowls) and cha (Chinese cymbals).

DMU Article on Leigh Landy's Cape Town Visit

On Nov 1, 2024, De Montfort University released a news article discussed Prof Leigh Landy's recent visit to Cape Town, where he was a featured artist at the Bowed Electrons Festival:

DMU professor headlines ground-breaking music festival in Cape Town

 

 

Edward Clijsen and Matthew London awarded M4C PhD Scholarships

We are delighted that today two MTI PhD students start PhD funding with the AHRC-funded Midlands Four Cities Doctoral Training Partnership, a consortium of eight institutions in Nottingham, Leicester, Birmingham and Coventry/Warwick. 

Matthew London will be embarking on his PhD in the area of film music and sound design in a project entitled The Integrated Soundtrack: An analytical exploration of the auditory elements of music, sound design and dialogue within horror cinema, supervised by Simon Atkinson, Leigh Landy and Laraine Porter.

Edward Clijsen is completing a practice-led PhD on microtonality in music: Practical Explorations of Formalised Approaches to Microtonal Composition, supervised by John Young, Bret Battey and Duncan MacLeod (University of Nottingham).

They join a strong contingent of M4C-funded PhD students in music at DMU with Cristiana Palandri, Stefano Catena, Rob Chafer, Sam Topley and Ross Davidson all current M4C PhD candidates.

Edward Clijsen (L) and Matthew London (R)

Leigh Landy returns to the Visiones Sonoras festival in Mexico

CMMAS, the Mexican National Centre for Music and Sonic Art, has invited Prof. Leigh Landy to return to their festival, Visiones Sonoras 20 (Sonic Visions), which takes place 24-28 September 2024 in Morelia. He will present his recent composition E Pluribus Plures as well as an invited talk entitled ‘Addressing (new) audiences through cultural connections’. CMMAS is an MTI research partner.

Following this, he will continue to Guadalajara where he will offer talks and workshops at ITESO Universidad and the MAZ museum.

Prof. Leigh Landy’s 10th book published

Leigh Landy has had his tenth book, The Music of Sounds and the Music of Things: Sonic Creativity within Sampling and DIY Cultures, written with his former colleague, John Richards. Set to be published on 30 September 2024, this is the second book of Landy's published this year.

This book investigates two areas in which the appreciation of sonic creativity can be easily acquired across diverse cultures, ages and interests: the music of sounds – making music with any sounds, part of today’s sampling culture and the music of things – and the creation of instruments using existent materials (another type of sampling?) involving the notion of ‘instrument as composition’ as part of today’s DIY (or DIT, do it together) culture.

The book offers broad discussions regarding the music of things (written by John Richards) followed by the music of sounds (written by Leigh Landy). These chapters are followed by a focus on the workshop demonstrating the collaborative and inclusive potential in both areas, and a spotlight on eight artists with a broad diversity of backgrounds and approaches to sound and music who discuss their perceptions. The book’s conclusion focuses on similarities and differences between the music of sounds and the music of things, suggesting, finally, that both might form part of the 21st- century’s folk music landscape.

https://www.routledge.com/The-Music-of-Sounds-and-the-Music-of-Things-Sonic-Creativity-Within-Sampling-and-DIY-Cultures/Landy-Richards/p/book/9781032741741?srsltid=AfmBOoqjYQXIRLMDYP3WhZJMMFR2r65diczO-u3g5a0VJwHNbN1guAgB